Over the last few weeks it has been an emotional rollercoaster, especially with being told we were to be given our assignment marks. This made my stomach turn inside out because thinking if I failed the first core assignment, what would I be like under more stress and pressure to do tasks?
I got the chance to feel what t was like to be under pressure and have a short deadline to finish a task in when we were given a short mini task called Hokai. The task was to create and design a new paint tube from a technical brief that we were given with a timescale of 3 hours 30 minutes. The design itself was exciting and challenging because of the work area we had to develop ideas for and to put all necessary information on that was given. Personally it wouldn’t be what I wanted to do have a qualified designer but it better than writing all the time.
The following Monday we had to give a 10 minute presentation on what we had learned the following week about the PARC principles. The group I was in had to give an example of repetition and show some examples of the different kinds and a summary of what it was. I wasn’t that nervous about getting up because I’m not a shy person, but when the nerves stood in front of the group kicked in and I was speechless.
I found this strange has I have done presentations before for my A levels and couldn’t understand why I was like this, but I think it could have been the fact I study with the same peers over the week and they were more like friends than just a group of people.
Thursday 11 December 2008
Friday 28 November 2008
The Day After Tomorrow
The day has arrived; yes you guessed it the results from the first assignment are in. Taking in to account everything that has been going on the last few weeks there wasn’t much time to think of what grade I would receive having being handed another two assignments to complete.
I really didn’t know how to feel about what would happen if I referred and what I would have to change or improve to get a pass grade with my concerns about my SPG. The fact I haven’t written a academicals document in over 4 years really started to make me worry .The same afternoon I got my grade for the assignment, it is what I expected but I was really pleased it wasn’t has bad has I thought it would have been. Knowing I could make changes and being re assured about what I need to do to make the pass grade.
felt really pleased when told we were finally going to do some design work and not as much academicals because I’m more stronger when it comes to being creative and already having previous skills in that side of the field. Running with two assignments side by side made me take a step back and think about how I’m going to manage my time. For this I made a schedule plan listing what I needed to achieve for the weeks ahead and I must admit I was not putting as much effort in as I should have because I had different opinions on what was needed to what is needed.
With clarification on what was needed I got ‘stuck in and now are up to date with all my assignments and self study tasks which is a extremely good feeling to have lifted the weight of my shoulders.
I really didn’t know how to feel about what would happen if I referred and what I would have to change or improve to get a pass grade with my concerns about my SPG. The fact I haven’t written a academicals document in over 4 years really started to make me worry .The same afternoon I got my grade for the assignment, it is what I expected but I was really pleased it wasn’t has bad has I thought it would have been. Knowing I could make changes and being re assured about what I need to do to make the pass grade.
felt really pleased when told we were finally going to do some design work and not as much academicals because I’m more stronger when it comes to being creative and already having previous skills in that side of the field. Running with two assignments side by side made me take a step back and think about how I’m going to manage my time. For this I made a schedule plan listing what I needed to achieve for the weeks ahead and I must admit I was not putting as much effort in as I should have because I had different opinions on what was needed to what is needed.
With clarification on what was needed I got ‘stuck in and now are up to date with all my assignments and self study tasks which is a extremely good feeling to have lifted the weight of my shoulders.
Wednesday 12 November 2008
The Real Deal - Design Mechanics
Yesterday was our first real introduction to the dynamic and fast growing design industry.
Dave Pannell, company director of Design Mechanics and creative designer Craig Burges dropped in and gave insight on what it’s like to manage clients in the ‘real world’.
During the presentation many questions were asked and answered about the views and experience of what it takes to be a successful designer. It came to me when Dave mentioned that a good designer would be able to create a piece of good design within a few hours from the first creative brief given by the client to the final design presented. I found this as a shock to the system from designs I have previously made that I generate a collection of about four different logos and usually adjust a website numerous times before I’m happy with the result.
Having to work to a specific time scale and having more than one client’s request in production as Craig mentioned made me realise what the Interactive Media course is adjusting me for and how important the change will be to the future of starting a career in the design industry.
During the talk Dave mentioned personal problems that he had to overcome and how difficult it is to be a company director. Giving advice of past experiences that he and Craig had experienced really helped me, just not in running your own business but in the design industry on how important it is getting to know your surroundings and to research the potential possibilities of client’s needs and the background of the businesses they run or work for.
My thoughts at the end of the presentation were that it takes a mature but a creative individual to be able to meet the standards of the design world. Not just on the designs that they can produce, but from the planning to knowing what the clients need because if not it could lead to a commercial setback.
Also I want teh oppertunity to thankyou Dave Pannell and Craig Burges for taking time out their busy schedule to give our group an insight to the industry.
Dave Pannell, company director of Design Mechanics and creative designer Craig Burges dropped in and gave insight on what it’s like to manage clients in the ‘real world’.
During the presentation many questions were asked and answered about the views and experience of what it takes to be a successful designer. It came to me when Dave mentioned that a good designer would be able to create a piece of good design within a few hours from the first creative brief given by the client to the final design presented. I found this as a shock to the system from designs I have previously made that I generate a collection of about four different logos and usually adjust a website numerous times before I’m happy with the result.
Having to work to a specific time scale and having more than one client’s request in production as Craig mentioned made me realise what the Interactive Media course is adjusting me for and how important the change will be to the future of starting a career in the design industry.
During the talk Dave mentioned personal problems that he had to overcome and how difficult it is to be a company director. Giving advice of past experiences that he and Craig had experienced really helped me, just not in running your own business but in the design industry on how important it is getting to know your surroundings and to research the potential possibilities of client’s needs and the background of the businesses they run or work for.
My thoughts at the end of the presentation were that it takes a mature but a creative individual to be able to meet the standards of the design world. Not just on the designs that they can produce, but from the planning to knowing what the clients need because if not it could lead to a commercial setback.
Also I want teh oppertunity to thankyou Dave Pannell and Craig Burges for taking time out their busy schedule to give our group an insight to the industry.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Symbols and Signs make creative designs?
Zapf Dingbats was 1 designed by a typographer named Hermann Zapf who is married to the type designer and lettering artist Gudrun Zapf von Hesse. Zapf Dingbats where created as an international computer typeface and was licensed by the International Typeface Corporation in 1978.
Hermann Zapf created around 1000 sketches and designs of symbols and signs according to linotype. ITC chose from a subset of 360 symbols, ornaments and typographic elements based on the original designs, which became formally known around the world as Zapf Dingbats.
According to Wikipedia Zapf Dingbats gained wide distribution when ITC Zapf Dingbats, which consists of the subset chosen by ITC, became one of 35 PostScript fonts built into Apple's LaserWriter Plus and that the typeface is distributed with Acrobat Reader 5 and 5.1.
2
From above you see the characterisation of the Zapf Dingbats which is formed up of symbols and images but also you see others like arrows and stars. 3 These are a combination of the updated version of Zapf, commonly known has Zapf Essentials.
Consists of 6 symbol-encoded fonts categorized in Arrows , Communication (pointing fingers, communication devices), Markers (squares, triangles, circles, ticks, hearts, crosses, check marks, leafs), Office (pen, clock, currency, scissors, hand), Ornaments (flowers, stars), for a total of 372 glyphs. The standard set for the ICT glyphs are included in Unicode and it is one of the "Basic 14" typefaces guaranteed to be available for PDF files.
However, not all ITC Zapf Dingbats glyphs are included in the Zapf Essentials collections (e.g.: airplane and letter).
4 Dingbats and Wingdings and similar fonts provide an easy way of adding graphics by simply typing them as text. However, you have to remember which letters and digits produce which symbols as in the examples above.
Below is a link to a PDF that has the full listing of the decimal and Hexadecimal codes and characters used to create each Dingbat.
Official Unicode Zapf Dingbat code chart
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapf_Dingbats
2. www.identifont.com
3. http://www.linotype.com/en/1460/linotypezapfessentials.html
4. http://www.answers.com/topic/dingbats
Hermann Zapf created around 1000 sketches and designs of symbols and signs according to linotype. ITC chose from a subset of 360 symbols, ornaments and typographic elements based on the original designs, which became formally known around the world as Zapf Dingbats.
According to Wikipedia Zapf Dingbats gained wide distribution when ITC Zapf Dingbats, which consists of the subset chosen by ITC, became one of 35 PostScript fonts built into Apple's LaserWriter Plus and that the typeface is distributed with Acrobat Reader 5 and 5.1.
2
From above you see the characterisation of the Zapf Dingbats which is formed up of symbols and images but also you see others like arrows and stars. 3 These are a combination of the updated version of Zapf, commonly known has Zapf Essentials.
Consists of 6 symbol-encoded fonts categorized in Arrows , Communication (pointing fingers, communication devices), Markers (squares, triangles, circles, ticks, hearts, crosses, check marks, leafs), Office (pen, clock, currency, scissors, hand), Ornaments (flowers, stars), for a total of 372 glyphs. The standard set for the ICT glyphs are included in Unicode and it is one of the "Basic 14" typefaces guaranteed to be available for PDF files.
However, not all ITC Zapf Dingbats glyphs are included in the Zapf Essentials collections (e.g.: airplane and letter).
4 Dingbats and Wingdings and similar fonts provide an easy way of adding graphics by simply typing them as text. However, you have to remember which letters and digits produce which symbols as in the examples above.
Below is a link to a PDF that has the full listing of the decimal and Hexadecimal codes and characters used to create each Dingbat.
Official Unicode Zapf Dingbat code chart
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapf_Dingbats
2. www.identifont.com
3. http://www.linotype.com/en/1460/linotypezapfessentials.html
4. http://www.answers.com/topic/dingbats
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Gone in 60 Seconds!
Now that I have come to the end of the first semester all I can say is ‘Where has the first 6 week gone?’
Due to how fast the first 6 weeks have gone and that the first assignment deadline as passed I find myself more calm and collective but still slightly nervous on what result I will receive. I got asked the question; do you think you have made the right choice in the course you chose? Well the answer is this,
During the weeks I have been in college it has been an excellent experience even though we have mainly concentrated on doing academicals writing. This was good for me because I have not written a document in over 3 years and made me wonder how bad my skills have become from leaving college the previous time.
From personal seminars to group seminars it has been an enjoyable experience and as help to me because it gave me the opportunity to discuss personal problems and concerns and to see what other people has been doing and what issues they are having worries about. Also during the group seminars we got chance to discuss our inspirational pieces, which I found quiet difficult at first but with more practice on trying to explain why it is becoming an easier process to do.
Overall it has been a good and interesting 6 week with both good and bad times and now I just want to relax and concentrate on the challenges I will have to face and to prepare how I will manage time efficiently to meet the next hurdle towards the beginning of hopefully what will become the rest of my life.
Due to how fast the first 6 weeks have gone and that the first assignment deadline as passed I find myself more calm and collective but still slightly nervous on what result I will receive. I got asked the question; do you think you have made the right choice in the course you chose? Well the answer is this,
During the weeks I have been in college it has been an excellent experience even though we have mainly concentrated on doing academicals writing. This was good for me because I have not written a document in over 3 years and made me wonder how bad my skills have become from leaving college the previous time.
From personal seminars to group seminars it has been an enjoyable experience and as help to me because it gave me the opportunity to discuss personal problems and concerns and to see what other people has been doing and what issues they are having worries about. Also during the group seminars we got chance to discuss our inspirational pieces, which I found quiet difficult at first but with more practice on trying to explain why it is becoming an easier process to do.
Overall it has been a good and interesting 6 week with both good and bad times and now I just want to relax and concentrate on the challenges I will have to face and to prepare how I will manage time efficiently to meet the next hurdle towards the beginning of hopefully what will become the rest of my life.
Wednesday 8 October 2008
The Longest Yard
Now that four week has passed the feeling of being nervous has faded away after given the chance to get to know each other better, become more comfortable within the group and taking part in team building events in and out of college.
As the first few weeks progressed and the forum and self study tasks got introduced I felt generally pleased until I posted my first thread and found out that my (SPG) spelling, punctuation and grammar was not at a satisfactory level and told it was needed to be improved. These comments hit me hard and got me down on some days, but I thought to myself that the only way to fix the problem was to practice more and get use to using ‘proper’ English by every means necessary.
The self study tasks that we got set including ‘ Finding Inspiration’ I found difficult comment on my inspirational work has I have not had previous experience with doing this task which I’m still trying to find the right words to describe the pieces chosen.
With taken the comments in mind of what I have done so far, I think for the future I will try to be more expressive with my work and practise has much as possible with my academic skills which includes SPG and referencing sources of information.
But on a good note the course so far is meeting my expectations on challenges, and that I’m learning about software I have never used before and cannot wait for the future experiences.
As the first few weeks progressed and the forum and self study tasks got introduced I felt generally pleased until I posted my first thread and found out that my (SPG) spelling, punctuation and grammar was not at a satisfactory level and told it was needed to be improved. These comments hit me hard and got me down on some days, but I thought to myself that the only way to fix the problem was to practice more and get use to using ‘proper’ English by every means necessary.
The self study tasks that we got set including ‘ Finding Inspiration’ I found difficult comment on my inspirational work has I have not had previous experience with doing this task which I’m still trying to find the right words to describe the pieces chosen.
With taken the comments in mind of what I have done so far, I think for the future I will try to be more expressive with my work and practise has much as possible with my academic skills which includes SPG and referencing sources of information.
But on a good note the course so far is meeting my expectations on challenges, and that I’m learning about software I have never used before and cannot wait for the future experiences.
Friday 3 October 2008
Where I’ve come from; where I am now; where I’m going
I am a full time first year HND Interactive Media student currently studying at Wakefield College. Throughout the year I have experienced full time and part time employment that included working all areas of different industries, from management to general warehouse and administration work.
Also I have had the chance to obtain two A Level qualifications in computing which I also studied at Wakefield College back in 2003.
During my previous years I have had high points and low points of my life and through this I think I have become a more mature person and understand things that younger people wouldn't or don't have experience of. Also I think it has made me a stronger and more open minded individual towards how to look at life and decide what I want from it and how I need to behave to achieve my goals.
I think that I have come to a point in my life where I want to better myself and improve my skills in different aspects of the computer and design industry. I have had previous experience and knowledge in these areas but not enough to progress further into industrial employment or be able to acquire a qualification that is credited with UK companies.
From the time I will be spending at college I hope that I will get many different experiences and gather more skills and get a better understanding about web development and how it works. Also I wish to be challenged in the work I get set so I will be able to work to my full potential to get the required grade, and the grade I deserve.
I would also like to learn software applications and design packages that I have never used before and have little or no understanding of. I think this will increase the potential of my creativeness and also extend the range of my design skills and make me think ‘Out of the box’.
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